Major depressive disorder (MDD) is unfortunately a relatively common condition in children and adolescents. Depression is estimated to affect 2% of pre-pubertal children and 5-8% of adolescents (Son et al, 2000). As you might expect, depression has a significant negative impact on the development, functioning and risk for suicide in individuals affected, as well as [read the full story…]
Clinical depression is one of the most common mental health problems occurring in children and adolescents. It is often accompanied or followed by additional negative outcomes, including social and academic problems, anxiety and substance use. Many depressed adolescents continue to have recurring problems throughout adulthood. A variety of antidepressant drugs, such as tricyclics and selective [read the full story…]
Much of the research about depression in children and adolescents focuses on how to treat the illness during the acute phase. This review from the Cochrane Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Review Group is more concerned with the ways in which interventions can be used to prevent relapse or recurrence of depressive disorders. The review looks specifically at two [read the full story…]
There are a number of cross-sectional studies that investigate antidepressant use in teenagers and young adults. These are interesting, but because they don’t tend to follow-up study participants prospectively over a long period of time, there is only so much we can learn from them. However, now researchers in Finland have published a study that [read the full story…]
Teenagers with depression sometimes do not respond to treatment with SSRI antidepressants and this inevitably leads to a higher cost of treatment. This randomised controlled trial (conducted by researchers from Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Oregon) set out to evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness over 24 weeks of combined cognitive behavior therapy plus switch to a different antidepressant [read the full story…]
